Monday, August 16, 2010

'bout that Mosque

The government can't - really, shouldn't - do a thing about it. Religious freedom is our Constitution in action.

Stopping the Mosque is a test is for the American people. The critics of the offensively named Mosque are correct. The placement of this Islamic center is at best an insensitive bit of posturing, at worst a celebration of and incitement to triumphalist Islamic violence.

Will people march in front of the place in protest? Will media outlets catch and publicize unguarded Muslim quotes about the 9/11 attack being "the will of Allah" (that is street Islam, folks). Will people and businesses boycott firms that take part in funding and constructing the Mosque? Will someone run with Gutfeld's thought of opening a gay bar in proximity to the Mosque, to expose the limits of Islamic "dialogue"? These are all fair methods in our public square, and if Americans really believe that the Mosque is a big piece of concrete propaganda, they need to step up and be active.

Other fair methods include refusing support for or actively working to unseat politicians who support the Mosque's placement at Ground Zero, or who use any kind of police power to hassle Constitutionally protected forms of protest against the Mosque.

But if Americans sit back and want NYC to stop the Mosque with some bogus zoning trick, we really deserve all the Sharia we get. Let's stick up for our Constitution on this one. It allows the Mosque to be by Ground Zero, but it also allows an array of means to stop it or to out its hostile symbolism.

2 comments:

Why do we fear Islam? It was not Islam that attacked us on 9/11, it was criminal radicalism ascribing to an extreme form of interpretation of the Koran that few follow. I don't think there is any "proof" that this mosque is a threat or danger to us. In fact, it seems to be a boon to the community in which it is located. We need to separate Islam, the religion, from the radicals who seek our death. Just as we need to separate the wildly right-wing "Christians" who espouse un-Christian values from the center of Christian understanding. Not all of us are Republicans nor should we be. Not all of us are Democrats, nor should we be. But to tie a conservative understanding of Christianity to a Republican agenda diminishes the cause of Christianity, just as the opposite would be the case. I have a great respect for your devotion and spirituality, but bristle at your partisanship. I'm not you're usual liberal, mainline priest by the way. I'm a retired Colonel in the Unite States Air Force. I love my country, served it proudly for 24 years before becoming a priest, and believe the Constitution and Bill of Rights represent who we are. Part of that includes allowing a mosque in New York. Peace brother (and I mean that very sincerely!)//Tony

I am not being partisan on this. We have an Islamic Center in Sioux Falls, and it is not the object of protest or negative attention of any kind. In High School here, my son formed a respectful view of Islam through history classes. Christians should be neighbors to any and all. And we are blessed to live in a land where the Constitution protects the neighborly equality of all faiths.

The issue, for me, is the location of the Mosque. In an earlier post, I likened this to the Carmelite nuns who were asked to take down a cross they had put up at the Auschswitz concentration site. They meant no harm by the symbol of their faith, but it was insensitive. This Mosque is at least that.